1990 American science fiction comedy film
| The Invisible Maniac |
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| Directed by | Adam Rifkin (as "Rif Coogan") |
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| Written by | Adam Rifkin (as "Rif Coogan") |
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| Starring | Noel Peters
Shannon Wilsey |
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| Cinematography | James Bay |
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| Edited by | Ron Resnick |
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| Music by | Marc David Decker |
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Production
company | Smoking Gun Productions |
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| Distributed by | Republic Pictures |
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Release date | July 13, 1990 |
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Running time | 86 minutes |
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| Country | United States |
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| Language | English |
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The Invisible Maniac (also known as The Invisible Sex Maniac) is a 1990 American comedy horror film written and directed by Adam Rifkin (under the pseudonym "Rif Coogan") and starring Noel Peters and Shannon Wilsey.[1]
Plot
A psychiatrist informs the mother (Marilyn Adams) of young Dornwinkle (Kris Russell) that he is a genius, but has the potential for madness and that with proper nurturing, he will be fine. The mother catches her son peeping at a neighbor (Tracy Walker) undressing. She berates him as a sexual deviant and that women are evil, traumatizing young Dornwinkle.
Twenty years later, Dornwinkle (Noel Peters), now a scientist that specializes in molecular reconstruction, provides a demonstration of his invisibility serum to a group of the world's most prestigious scientists. The demonstration fails miserably and the scientists humiliate Dornwinkle. Dornwinkle goes into a rage and murders four of them. He is convicted of a quadruple homicide, but rather than being sent to prison, he is sent to a psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane.
After escaping from the hospital, Dornwinkle is hired as a substitute high school physics teacher under the pseudonym, Dr. Kevin Smith. The students devise a plot to harass their new teacher, which Dornwinkle overhears. Meanwhile, Dornwinkle continues to work on his invisibility serum, which he eventually achieves. After taking the serum, Dornwinkle notes the effects it has on his dreams, fantasizing about the girls he teaches.
The students execute their plan to harass Dornwinkle, which further makes him angrier and angrier. Mrs. Cello (Stephanie Blake), the principal of the school, who has already seduced one student, attempts to seduce Dornwinkle. When he rebuffs her advancements, she threatens to fire him and call the police. He then presumes to decide to accept her sexual proposal, but kills her instead with a letter opener. This event, combined with the side effects of the invisibility serum, puts him over the edge and sends him on a killing spree.
Now invisible, he kills Bubba (Eric Champnella) with a sandwich and Betty (Debra Lamb) with a fire hose. Next, he kills Joan (Kalei Shallabarger) by drowning her in a fish tank and strangles April (Gail Lyon). He then proceeds to kill Vicky (Shannon Wilsey) in the girls shower by throwing a radio into the water, electrocuting her, while Gordon (Rod Sweitzer) waits outside. Gordon discovers Vicky's body and is assaulted and chased by Dornwinkle, who is still invisible. Gordon is killed when he's thrown off the roof of the school. After making love in Mrs. Cello's office, not noticing her dead body, Chet (Robert R. Ross, Jr.) and Bunny (Melissa Moore) discover Vicky's dead body in the girl's locker room. They blame the mute janitor, Henry (Jason Logan Harris) and proceed to beat him up. Dornwinkle attacks Chet and Bunny. Chet initially gets the upperhand and Dornwinkle's visibility returns. However, Dornwinkle is able to eventually overpower Chet and kills Bunny by repeatedly jumping on her body. Presuming Chet to also be dead, Dornwinkle returns to his apartment. Chet shows up with a shotgun, but Dornwinkle is able to inject himself with the invisibility serum and takes the gun away from Chet. Chet finds the invisibility serum and injects himself. Both invisible, they fight each other. Someone is killed with the shotgun, blowing their entire head off. The police arrive and assume Dornwinkle committed suicide, but it is revealed that it is Chet's body when Dornwinkle's serum wears off.
The film ends with newscaster Tammy Edwards (Dana Bentley) reporting the story of Dornwinkle's suicide and murder spree, but she is stripped naked by the invisible Dornwinkle, laughing hysterically.
Reception
In an interview for the E! True Hollywood Story documentary on the life of the actress, former boyfriend Billy Sheehan recounted how Wilsey felt humiliated during the film's premiere, feeling unsure whether the audience was laughing at her poor performance, or the character. Despite this reaction, she appeared in three more mainstream films before committing exclusively to pornography.
